Apocalyptic World Of BEAST's New Music Video 'Shadow

Six-piece K-pop group BEAST continues to redefine to limits of just how dark a boy band can get, with the arresting new video for their song "Shadow," off the album "Hard To Love, How To Love," released this week.

The song, a tightly produced piece of gothic pop with a backbeat, topped eight Korean music charts immediately upon being released Friday, including MelOn, Mnet, Bugs, Naver Music, Olleh Music and Soribada, according to the publication TENASIA.

And for good reason, "Shadow" is a dark but danceable song that delivers the all-too-rare quality of being hard to define genre-wise.

The overall vibe is dark and minimalist, but the synth string swells and the tight jabs of disco guitar fill the sound out and make it something else.

It is a dance song disguised as an angst-filled Goth rocker, but then there's some rapping.

Yes, BEAST's new offering is hard to define, but it's an excellent quality in today's homogenized pop landscape.

And then there's the video, a dizzying escapade through the cinematic clichés of the macabre, including tarantulas, skulls and large plumes of smoke, but also with some striking CGI shots of an apocalyptic urban cityscape.

The images aren't scary or campy, but somewhere in between and it creates an interesting spectacle to look at.

There was a reason that the original archetypes of horror rock like Alice Cooper and Black Sabbath took on the evil side of life, the paranormal or what many called the Satanic; it makes for very interesting visuals.

And while BEAST seems to clearly draw the line at portraying themselves as masters of the darks arts such as the aforementioned acts (members of Black Sabbath have said the public thought they were warlocks), the band is still pushing the boundaries of what they can get away with as a K-pop boy band.

Musically it is nice to see them taking chances as well.

While many musical acts looking to enter heavier territory often seem to think that means you must shout louder, the members of BEAST instead reach inside to pull out angst-riddled, powerful performances that drive "Shadow."

The production serves the melody well, picking up steam as the vocals soar, or dropping out completely to drive home a rap.

BEAST appears to have found a satisfying alchemy of image and sound in "Shadow."